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NAHB Nation's Building News Home builders with outstanding construction loans are reporting that they are having to stop work on new housing developments and are losing sales as the result of failed banks and thrift institutions being taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). "Builders with outstanding loans that are placed under FDIC control are frequently unable to contact a decision maker to deal with routine but time-sensitive matters related to loan draws or extensions," NAHB President and CEO Jerry Howard said in a Nov. 20 letter to FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair. To read more, click here

How about something like: "At __________ someone has jury-rigged this wiring to get around a problem instead of fixing the problem. If this circuit were properly sized it wouldn't ever be overloaded under an ordinary 120-volt load so there'd be no reason to fuse the circuit outside of the panel. Have a licensed electrician do whatever it takes to diagnose and fix the problem." ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

What Chad said, Is that insulator anchored to anything or simply caught in a tug-of-war? That grounded cable from the pole is designed to carry the weight of the triplex plus the load of those 120-volt circuits. That original grounded conductor to the box is not designed to carry that much weight. If that insulator is hanging in the air and that grounded conductor is carrying all of the weight, and that clamp fails, everything in the house is going to become 240 volts, no? Won't that fry a whole lot of stuff that's plugged in and turned on at the time? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Like Chad, I spent a little time as a professional mechanic. Sure it was 33 years ago but even then I'd noticed a big difference in the quality of automobiles. I went to work for a Chrysler/Toyota dealer in 1969. I was so young that they wouldn't let me work on the big American cars and relegated me to work on the Toyotas. At first I resented it. Then I began to see the subtle differences in quality and the way they were put together compared to American cars and I began to develop a healthy respect for them. From then on, until I went into the military in 1975, I worked on Toyotas with occasional short returns to the construction trade whenever my drinking would land me out of a job until another Toyota dealer would hire me on. I worked for about half a dozen Toyota dealers during that period and saw a constant progression in quality. In 1971, I bought a Toyota Crown - one of only about 600 of that model imported into the US before Toyota stopped importing that model (They didn't re-import large cars again until the came out with the Avalon). American's didn't buy the crown; for them, it was a wannabe big car and didn't have enough doodads and couldn't compete with the large Chevy, Pontiac, Buick, Ford, Chrysler sedans. Compact car owners didn't want it because it was too big. I drove that vehicle for more than 17 years and never had any major problems with it - in fact, I've never had any major problems with any of my vehicles; guess that's the benefit of being an ex-wrencher. Sort of like that Subaru commercial, I drove it into a Japanese used auto parts place one day and parked it. The proprietor was happy to have it - he'd never seen it but every once in a while had call for parts that he couldn't fill - now he could. My point is that the Americans consumers had spurned a car that in Japan was a mainstay of the Japanese market in favor of American bling; Crowns never went out of production and continued to be sold all over the world - if you've ever been to Hong Kong or Japan, you've probably ridden in one when you hailed an airport taxi. After that Crown, I owned a Toyota Supra for 11 years - again, no problems; well, that is until a careless idiot ran into me from behind and totaled the car. After that, I was forced by circumstance of owning a franchise to purchase a Dodge Caravan; American cars had gotten better but still weren't anywhere near as good as the Toyota's I'd been working on in the 70's. I drove American vans for work from 1996 until 2003 and I wasn't impressed. In 2003 I bought a Subaru Baja. For the next two years I beat the crap out of that little car/truck and it never even hiccuped; when they came out with a turbo-charged model I turned it back in and upgraded. I've continued to beat the tar out of that little car/truck for the last 3-1/2 years and it's been 100% reliable. All it desires is oil and filter changes and the occasional tuneup; no wonder Toyota owns a 40% share of Subaru. I don't have any confidence in the ability of the big 3 to learn from their mistakes; the number of American car manufacturers that's gone belly-up over the past 100 years is pretty long and nobody was standing around to bail them out. Daimler bought Chrysler and spent a number of years trying to make them profitable but in the end couldn't continue to tolerate the UAW so they unloaded them. Those UAW workers have been making a whole lot more than their contemporaries - if they didn't have enough sense to salt some of it away for a day like today, I have no sympathy for them. There isn't any segment of the population that's been more severely affected by this mess than we have. While the newspapers spew doom and gloom about real estate and continue to predict that the value of real estate will continue to drop for another 14 months, consumers are sitting on their thumbs afraid to buy because they don't want the house to be worth less than they've paid for it in another year. Then there is the 4.5% interest rate the newspapers keep predicting is coming; rather than fuel sales of homes, it's got some consumers who can afford to buy sitting around saying to themselves, "Gee, maybe if I wait another month or two I can save myself a bundle on interest." Meanwhile, home inspectors are going belly-up for lack of work; should we now go hat in hand to Washington and demand they bail us out too? The way nature is supposed to work it's survival of the fittest. When you go around constantly rescuing the weak just before they are about to be eaten, they don't get any stronger, they just live a little longer until eventually, one day when the rescuer isn't paying attention, the stronger species takes advantage and eats the weak one. That's the way it is in the industrial/financial world too - by dumping money on those guys we'll just be prolonging the inevitable. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Sure, post away! We don't have a dog in this fight. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Oh, sorry. It says: At the bottom of the panel it says, "We're The Big Three. We Don't Need to Compete." OT - OF!!! M.

It borders on politics but I'm going to allow it anyway; it was just too well done. Besides, it's good for a chuckle. Read the fine print! Image Insert: 574.16 KB

This is interesing: http://autos.msn.com/everyday/GasStatio ... x#topOfMap Today, a Kroger gas station in Salem, Virginia near Roanoke is selling gas for 76.9 cents a gallon. Guess OPEC is trying to dis-incentivize (is that even a word) us from developing alternative energy sources. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Only if she'd seen a stain or something that told her visually that something was going on; in which case she would have had me bring a ladder, climb up there and scan and probe the ceiling. If it were a dry ceiling under an attic, I would have then tried to examine the area above the ceiling in the attic to figure out where the water was coming from; if it were a first floor, she would have looked for the source on the second floor using just our protimeter and probably would have found it. I'm still not convinced that an IR camera is even necessary from a strictly technical standpoint but I suspect that I'm going to have to get one within the next few years or my inspections will be considered sub-standard by some of the techy customers around here who seem to go bonkers over every little gizmo. When that happens, I'll have to look at what everyone else is doing and decide whether the kick-up in business (if any) is enough to justify using it as a part of my regular business or it makes more sense to charge a premium just to take it out of it's container. Right now, I'm of the opinion that it's a specialized scan - kind of like an MRI versus a more common x-ray - and I think people should order it as an option and pay appropriately. That could change; we'll see. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Jeez, They guy's a cartoonist; now an artist. You Tube, here he comes. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

They advertised it at X price and now say that unless their inspector is used they will raise the price? Sounds like a bait and switch to me. I'd bet it's not only illegal but the agent might be putting her license in jeopardy. I bet the agent is trying to help her favorite agent survive this downturn so she doesn't have to train another one in the fine art of suckupism. OT - OF!!! M.

I had one of those; excreta hardened in the toilet and bathroom sink and 3-inches deep in the tub, thousands of clumps of soiled toilet paper on every horizontal surface throughout the house. The inspection lasted less than 5 minutes. I walked from the front of the house to the back and back, exited and told the clients and realtor I was done. When they wanted to know what it would take to get me to do the job, I told them they'd have to pay me twice my normal fee and rent a bio-suit with a self-contained breathing apparatus. They balked, I left. I picked up a ringworm infection in one house like that; ain't no way I'm going through that again. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

When I can't get on a roof because there's no way to get up there by using my 22 ft. ladder, or a combination of the 22ft. ladder and the 13ft. ladder, I'll inspect it from the ground with binoculars. If the client isn't satisfied with that, I'm happy to come back for a reinspection fee when they've had a 30ft. (or 40ft. if necessary) ladder dropped off by the local tool rental place. Don't know why, but it seems like that's always happening when I have a job to do in West Seattle; thankfully, there's a Hertz tool rental place over there and they're happy to drop off those long ladders and come right back an hour later to pick 'em up. The hard part is getting the danged things stood up once they drop 'em off. I have to agree with Chad, they seem to be making those things heavier every year. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Kewl, could you do me a favor and take a moment to go to the poll called "Walking on Roofs" and add your vote? Thanks, ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

He all, Well, I've had another electrical poll question submitted by a fellow. He says that it's logical that most folks will use a 3-light tester, so he's not surprised at the poll results, but he wants to know what percentage of folks have a multi-meter in addition to some type of receptacle test device. So, I thought I'd ask again. Thanks

For the record, I've heard every one of these responses right out of the mouths of other inspectors. The first response here comes from a fellow who had another franchise in the same franchise network that I was in when I first began this gig. He was a full head shorter than I am, had a small frame, and he weighed at least a hundred pounds less than I do. If it weren't for his claustrophobia, he could have gone into lots of places that I'll never fit into even if I starved myself for a year and dropped that 100 lbs. He used to call me when he had an inspection on a house with a crawlspace coming up and we'd coordinate what time on what day I'd have to show up at his inspection to do the crawlspace on the house and at the end of the month I'd invoice him for the work done. He's since retired. The second response I heard from a fellow at the ITA show in Vegas and I've heard the others responses at various times from other inspectors during conversations. So, yeah, I'm curious. I know what I can get into/under/thorugh - a hatch no smaller than 10-inches by 20-inches and a crawl with at least 10 inches of clearance to the underside of joists and beams. I would have loved to have discovered that the standard of care in the business would make my life easier and I could stop crawling through filth but I guess I'm not going to be that lucky. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Well, I think there's nothing wrong with injecting a little humor into my day. I don't know why anyone would not want to respond. There's nobody taking down names or broadcasting what anyone is saying. If there is, it's news to me and I think I'd be the one to know. The only way that any of you will know how anyone has responded is by reading their responses in the comments after the poll - the names and choices of those who've voted aren't displayed. Besides, some folks get downright nasty when you disagree with their way of doing things and what comes out of their mouths when you get to that point can be pretty unprofessional; which brings us to those comments - except for the word "Blockhead" which I substituted for something else a fellow called me, every one of those are actual statements made to me by other inspectors over the years when we've been discussing/debating, sometimes rather heatedly, the home inspection process and what each of us considered a proper inspection. If you think I can be blunt and abrasive on here, you should meet me in person. I'm not famous for sparing folks' feelings. Don't hate; these're just straw polls, they'll get me the information I need for the project I'm working on. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

NORTHBROOK, IL: November 14, 2008 Underwriters Laboratories (UL) is notifying electricians, regulatory authorities and consumers that certain ground rods sold at various hardware and home improvement stores bear a counterfeit UL Mark for the United States. This information supersedes UL's previous public notice dated July 16, 2007. Name of Product: Ground Rod, Catalog Number PWC 588 Units: Unknown quantity Manufacturer: Unknown Date of Manufacture: Unknown Hazard: The products in question have not been evaluated for safety by UL and are not eligible to bear the UL Mark. The thickness of the copper plating for these ground rods does not comply with UL requirements. It is unknown whether the mechanical properties and dimensional tolerances of the ground rods are suitable to ensure an adequate ground path. Identification: The counterfeit ground rods are marked with the following information: What You Should Do: If you suspect a counterfeit ground rod was installed on your premises, contact a qualified electrician and have it replaced with a UL-Listed ground rod. If you have in your possession a ground rod bearing a counterfeit UL Mark that has not been installed, UL recommends that the counterfeit ground rod be returned to the place of purchase. Distributed By: The ground rods are known to be sold at electrical distributors throughout the United States. Counterfeit Ground Rod: Photos of the counterfeit ground rods are shown below: Legitimate Ground Rod: A photo of the legitimate ground rod is shown below: Image Insert: 32.69 KB Source: Underwriters Laboratories

Here's an interesting Inman News commentary about the current financial mess by Lou Barnes, a mortgage broker and syndicated columnist. To read the article, click here. Warning: If you don't have a paid-up membership to Inman, these Inman News articles tend to have a one click shelf life. You might be able to access the article but won't be able to access anything else on the Inman site and when you come back later probably won't be able to view it again. It will also probably become unviewable for non-Inman-members in about 24 hours.

I used to love the smell of laundry fresh off the clothesline. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, The thing that puzzles me about this stuff - and H clips too, for that matter - is the fact that the clip fills the gap between the sheets and on this stuff the raised ribs along the edges butt up to the next sheet along the entire edge. So, when this stuff expands like any other sheet, why wouldn't you still have issues as the H clips or the ribs butt up to one another and constrain the sheets? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, That resolution is much better. I'm wrong. It's not spliced in. At 600% that photo shows that the BX continues up into the burner and that wire is wrapped around the BX and then going underneath the burner motor and coming up on the right side and going into the burner just below those two dark squares you see at 100% resolution. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Humidifier; the lid says, "Water Pan - Keep Filled For Proper Humidity." OT - OF!!! M.

I had an electric one similar to John's pictures once. It was a Boeing engineer who owned the house and a Boeing engineer that was buying the house. I couldn't find the water heater so the client's agent called the owner's agent. The listing agent said to go outside and look under a piece of plywood beneath the deck, which was elevated about 2-1/2 feet above grade; I did so, and that's when I found the water heater in a deep hole in the dirt under the deck. When the homeowner dug the hole, he undermined the downspout receiver and left it hanging there in the hole. It was raining cats and dogs at the time of the inspection and the roof runoff was coming off the roof and was running out of the open receiver and there was about two feet of water around the water heater in the hole. I took one look at that mess and said, "I'm excluding the water heater from the inspection; there's no way I'm climbing down there in that mess to look at that water heater." That set off a sh*tstorm that went on for weeks. The seller couldn't seem to grasp the concept that large electrical devices with 240 volts flowing to them resting in a pool of water with all of the roof runoff draining into a hole around them was dangerous; I don't understand why he couldn't understand it, he designs huge airplanes fer crissakes. The buyer understood and wanted it moved inside. The seller refused to do it and wanted out of the deal, but for some reason that's still not clear to me the buyer was able to prevent him from backing out of their deal and kept insisting that the water heater be moved. Being engineers, both of them were convinced that they were smarter than the other and neither of them would budge. I learned later on that in the end, after over a month of back and forth wherein the seller and buyer were practically at each others' throats, the listing agent and the selling agent, who'd been an electro-mechanical contractor in a former life, each pony'd up half of the $400 for a new water heater and they went out to the house one day, disconnected the old water heater, and installed a new one back inside the house where the water heater had originally been installed, restored the plumbing to the original configuration, wired the WH, and then they fixed the receiver drain and filled the hole up with dirt. It takes all kinds; I wonder how efficiently that water heater in John's photos burns with dirt caved in around the bottom covering most of the air intakes on the bottom of the tank? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Rich, Blow it up to 600% and look at it again. A piece of hard conduct comes out of the burner and stops at the floor. The BX ends a couple of inches from there (it's partly unwrapped at the end) and the wire is spliced into it down there. I could almost make out the "Honeywell" on the bottom of that stack temp device. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike